VARS seeks feedback on new professional standards for real estate brokerage

The Vietnam Association of Realtors (VARS) on March 28 held a consultative meeting to gather feedback on the draft "Vietnam Real Estate Brokerage Professional Standards" (VREB).

During the event, Mr. Nguyen Manh Quynh, Deputy Secretary General of VARS, stated that the VREB is designed as a comprehensive professional framework. Its goal is to evaluate the operational capacity of all entities participating in the real estate brokerage market.

The VREB is structured into two primary sets of standards. For brokerage firms, 10 categories include legal compliance; professional ethics; organization and management; brokerage processes and operations; financial and business capacity; human resources; infrastructure; technology and communications; customer care; and social responsibility. Six categories for individual brokers consist of legal compliance; professional ethics; specialized knowledge; brokerage skills; practical practice capacity; and service quality and professional development.

To ensure the VREB is effective in practice, VARS representatives emphasized the need for continuous review and refinement based on stakeholder contributions to ensure the standards remain feasible and aligned with market realities.

Contributing to the discussion, Chairwoman of EximRS Real Estate JSC, Tran Cam Tu, proposed specific refinements for the corporate standards. She emphasized that legal compliance is a mandatory, foundational requirement for every business.

Regarding ethics, Ms. Tu argued that professional codes of conduct must apply to both firms and individuals.

"When ethics are set as the foundation, practitioners are naturally guided toward proper behavior and strict adherence to principles and regulations," she noted.

She also highlighted financial capacity as a decisive factor for operational stability and legal compliance, warning that a lack of financial control could lead to market distortions.

Regarding the standards for individual brokers, Mr. Nguyen Van Loi, a regional representative of VARS, suggested streamlining the current six categories into three core pillars to ensure simplicity and ease of implementation: legal compliance, work efficiency, and professional ethics.

According to Dr. Nguyen Van Dinh, Chairman of VARS, the VREB aims to standardize and elevate the real estate brokerage profession.

He emphasized that these standards serve not only as a benchmark for the entire market but also as a vital foundation for building trust with customers and society, ultimately dispelling long-standing negative prejudices against the brokerage industry.